Left Bracket Round Four: Rubens v. Schwitters!

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"Semifinals" designates the Fourth to Seventh Rounds of the Infinite Art Tournament.  This is a Left Bracket Fourth Round Match between Rubens (5-1-2, 59-30, .663) and Schwitters (3-1, 26-20, .565).  Leaving the Tournament after losing to Rubens is Léon Spilliaert (4-2, 38-34, .528).

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Sir Peter Paul Rubens
1577 - 1640
Flemish

• Crushed Théodore Rousseau in Round 1.
• Tied with Henri Rousseau in Round 2. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Lost to Estonia's Michiel Sittow in the Round 2 Tiebreaker. It was a single-vote margin! YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Bridget Riley in the Left Bracket Second Round.
• Tied with Claus Sluter in Left Bracket Second Round Elimination. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Francisco de Zurbarán in Left Bracket Second Round Elimination by a two-vote swing -- YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Sodoma easily in the Left Bracket Third Round.
• Beat Léon Spilliaert, Belgian's other famous painter, in Left Bracket Third Round Elimination.

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Kurt Schwitters
1887 - 1948
German

• Beat fifteenth century German Martin Schongauer easily in Round 1.
• Defeated Jan van Scorel in Round 2.
• Beat Egon Schiele in Round 3 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Lost to Charles Sheeler in Round 4.

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The Infinite Art Tournament Left Bracket Third-Round Elimination: Velázquez v. Massys!

Today's match closes down the Left Bracket Third Round, which means that the eight bracket sheets on which the bulk of the Infinite Art Tournament was played out are now all closed.  It's basically all endgame from here on out.  Mostly, the paintings should be pretty easy on the eyes.

Leaving us this week -- the last guys to be heartbroken that they didn't make it to the semis -- are Wright of Derby (3-2; 38 vf, 20 va), whose remarkable .655 voting "batting average" puts him in third place among the 438 artists who have left the Tournament, and Lord Frederick Leighton (2-2-4; 47-52, .475), who will almost certainly be the artist who tied the most times.

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Diego de Silva y Velázquez
1599 - 1660
Spanish

• Tied with Victor Vasarely in his first try at the First Round.
• Defeated Marcel Duchamp in the final match of Round 1.
• Beat Francisco de Zurbarán in Round 2 by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Lost to Michelangelo in Round 3.
• Crept past Wright of Derby by a single vote in the Left Bracket Third Round. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

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Quentin Massys
1465ish - 1530
Dutch

• Defeated Masolino in Round 1.
• Decisively defeated Jan Davidsz de Heem in Round 2.
• Lost to Henri Matisse in Round 3.
• Tied with Joan Miró in the Left Bracket Third Round -- YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Lord Leighton in a second try at the Left Bracket Third Round.

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Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

The Infinite Art Tournament Left Bracket Third-Round Elimination: Vieira da Silva v. Miró!

There have been four tiebreak matches going on in the Left Bracket Third Round, and both of today's artists got here by winning through one of them.  Losing to Vieira da Silva was Henry Raeburn (3-2-2; 42 vf, 34 va, .553) -- he of the ice-skating parsons -- while Miró joins us fresh from a victory over the sculptor Claus Sluter (3-2-1; 43- 30, .589).

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Maria Elena Vieira da Silva
1908 - 1992
Portuguese; worked in France

• Defeated Andrea del Verrocchio in Round 1.
• Lost to Vermeer in Round 2.
• Beat Paolo Uccello in the Left Bracket Second Round by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Kitagawa Utamaro in Left Bracket Second Round Elimination.
• Tied with James Tissot in her first try at the Left Bracket Third Round.
• Defeated Sir Henry Raeburn in a Left Bracket Third Round tiebreaker.

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Joan Miró
1893 - 1983
Spanish

• Defeated Jean-François Millet by a single vote in Round 1. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Lost to one "Michelangelo" in Round 2.  YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Crushed Gerrard Dou in the Left Bracket Second Round.
• Beat Jean-François Millet in Left Bracket Second Round Elimination by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Tied with Quentin Massys in Left Bracket Third Round. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Brought down Claus Sluter in the Left Bracket Third Round.

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Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

Left Bracket Fifth Round Elimination: Fra Angelico v. Bosch!

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Left Bracket Fifth Round Elimination continues with this match pairing Fra Angelico (6-1, 54-38, .587) against Hieronymus Bosch (6-1, 60-34, .638).  Bosch's loss came from Gianlorenzo Bernini, who subsequently fell to the Fra', so clearly there's no point in even holding this contest.  Or is there?

Leaving the Tournament are Bernini (4-2, 57-36, .613) and Giacomo Balla (4-2, 41-37, .526).  Bernini, who always enjoyed great voter turnout, leaves the Tourney as the 11th ranked artist by "batting average" but sixth by total voting margin.  Balla, who tended to lose big when he wasn't winning by a tight margin, ranks only 88th among the artists that have left the show.  

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Fra Angelico
c.1387-1455
Italian

Known for his pious treatment of religious subjects – which he portrayed with unprecedented psychological penetration and a compelling realism – Fra Giovanni was first called "pictor angelicus," the Angelic Painter, shortly after his death in 1455, a name that came to be rendered in English as Fra Angelico. In 1984, Fra Angelico was beatified – the first step in the process toward sainthood – by Pope John Paul II, who also decreed him the patron of artists.

- The Met

• Defeated Florentine master Andrea del Sarto in Round 1 by a decisive but respectful margin.
• Beat Sofonisba Anguissola in Round 2 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!! (This match was incorrectly determined a tie in March 2012; the miscount was discovered in May 2013. YOUR VIGILANCE COUNTS!!!)
• Made it past Arcimboldo in Round 3.
• Lost to Albrecht Altdorfer in Round 4 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Max Beckmann in the Left Bracket Fourth Round.
• Beat Hendrick Avercamp in Left Bracket Fourth Round Elimination.
• Edged out supersculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini in the Left Bracket Fifth Round. It was a two-vote swing! YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

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Hieronymus Bosch
c.1450 - 1516
Dutch

It is quite a feat that a Dutchman who painted 500 years ago remains one of the most notable apocalyptic painters of the world and one of art’s first visionary geniuses. Hieronymus Bosch is most celebrated for his detail-drenched and symbolic narrative renditions of the dance between heaven and hell through biblical-themed landscapes upon which play a revolving cast of fantastical, and often macabre humans, animals, monsters, and make-believe creatures. His paintings demonstrate our age-old tales of morality and the eventual fate of all sinners who succumb to the pleasures and perversity of the ego. These timeless stories, masterfully portrayed upon canvas in Bosch’s impeccably steady hand, continue to challenge interpretation as well as position the artist as one of the canon’s first original thinkers.

- The Art Story

• Trounced Paris Bordone in Round 1.
• Escaped upset by French installation guy Christian Boltanski in Round 2 by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Held out against the English engraver-poet William Blake in Round 3.
• Lost to sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini in Round 4.
• Trounced Giuseppe Arcimboldo in the Left Bracket Fourth Round.
• Beat Sandro Botticelli in Left Bracket Fourth Round Elimination.
• Beat Balla easily in Left Bracket Round 5.

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Infinite Art Tournament Third Round Elimination Tiebreak: Ghirlandaio v. Sutherland!

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Here's the other half of the Left Bracket Third Round Elimination match that started last Thursday.

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Domenico Ghirlandaio
1449 - 1494
Florentine

• Tied with Lorenzo Ghiberti in his first try at Round One.
• Beat Raoul Hausmann in the Round 1 tiebreaker.
• Laid a beating on Oskar Kokoschka in Round 2.
• Lost to Peter Krøyer in Round 3 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Thomas Cole in the Left Bracket Third Round by one little vote. YOUR VOTE STILL COUNTS!!!
• Tied with Czech abstract painter Frantisek Kupka in Left Bracket Third Round Elimination.

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Graham Sutherland
1903 - 1980
British

• Defeated George Stubbs in Round 1.
• Won easily against Clyfford Still in Round 2.
• Lost badly to Jan Steen in Round 3.
• Beat Terbrugghen in the Left Bracket Third Round.
• Tied with Frank Stella in Left Bracket Third Round Elimination.

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Infinite Art Tournament Third Round Elimination Tiebreak: Kupka v. Stella!

You'd be forgiven for having assumed that Frantisek Kupka had left the Tournament, but acutally he's been waiting for a tiebreak opportunity since locking up with Domenico Ghirlandaio in a December 2015 match.  Now, along comes Frank Stella, in a tie of his own with Graham Sutherland.  The two of them are fighting for the chance to take on some big-name competition that's lying in wait.  Let's find out who gets a shot at the big time!

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Frantisek Kupka
1871 - 1957
Czech; worked in France

• Defeated Wilfredo Lam in an unusual Cuban/Czech IAT Round 1 pairing.
• Beat beachcomber Andres Amador in Round 2 by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!
• Lost to Georges de La Tour in Round 3, again by a single vote.
   YOUR VOTE COUNTS AGAIN!!!
• Mauled Raoul Hausmann in the Left Bracket Third Round.
• Tied with Florentine master Domenico Ghirlandaio in Left Bracket Third Round Elimination.

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Frank Stella
born 1936
American

• Lost to Dutch master Jan Steen in Round 1 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Skunked -- Skunked! -- Canadian painter Jean-Paul Riopelle in First Round Elimination.
• Snuck by Clyfford Still in the Second Round by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat George Stubbs in Left Bracket Second Round Elimination by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
• Beat Rufino Tamayo in the Left Bracket Third Round.
• Tied with Graham Sutherland in Left Bracket Third Round Elimination.

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